Ranma's kid
by Zeful
Summary: A kid is found outside the Tendo home, badly beaten and with no memory. Can they figure out his past? Does he even want one? Please Read & Review
1. Prelude and New Kid On The Block

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma1/2, it is the property of Rumiko Takahashi and publishers. The original character in this story is my property and any resemblance to any person real, imaginary, living or dead is purely coincidental. I have also not read all of the manga either so it won't be after the end of the series, yet. I'll try and update anything that I think needs it as I progress in the series.

Prelude

A lone figure moved silently through, empty, dimly lit streets. A thunderbolt cracks the eerie silence, promising the worst storm the area's seen in years. The figure walks on looking at the town, examining every home, every store, everything, with excruciating detail. Passing a closed café, the Nekohaten, a light above the café was still on, there was a young woman with purple hair staring longingly off into the distance. The figure continued on stepping into a pot-hole and twisting that foot with a resounding crack.

Dropping to one knee, hands began examining the leg, what had earlier been a simple hairline fracture had turned into a rather nasty break. Reaching over the figure ripped a fence pole out of the ground, then continued on, using the commandeered fence pole as a crutch. After a while though, the crutch, and it's user, gave out.

Falling against a streetlight, the figure struggled to keep from falling. The sustained exposure to light revealed many other cuts and bruises on the man's face. He looked down at the fencepost-cum-crutch for a moment before returning it to his grasp and summoning the last of his strength he staggered to a wall less then four feet away. He fell again, sprawling across the pavement. Reaching into the folds of his treachcoat he produced a small, egg shaped bottle. He looked at it for a while, trying to convince himself that the little bottle was his last chance. Before he could lose face, he quickly pulled the stopper lifted the bottle to the heavens he smiled, "Today's a good day to die." He said quietly before upending the bottle's contents into his stomach. He then produced a small blade from his coat.

Drawing the hiltless blade he stared over the colored engravings, on one side a bright orange tiger charged down the blade extended in a quick pounce. On the other side a blue dragon rose from the pommel as if trying to race the tiger on the other side. Holding the flat of the blade to his head he whispered a silent prayer. He then sheathed the blade and returned it to his coat. He let out a deep sigh that finally lulled him to unconsciousness as the sky opened up drenching everything. Unnoticed around the corner was a sign that read in kanji, Tendo school of Indiscriminate Grappling.

Chapter 1: New Kid on the Block

"RANNMMMAAA!" was the scream that broke through the monotony of a certain pig-tailed martial artist, sparing with his father. He spun to the source of the scream and took off running, ignoring his father's complaints. He barely ever heard _that_ tone from his fiancée unless something bad happened, like her getting kidnapped, again.

Jumping over the wall he saw his fiancée in her usual jogging clothes looking very stricken, over a small black heap slumped over against the wall. "Akane, what's wrong?" he asked, not really knowing what's going on. She shakingly pointed to the wet black mass which seemed to be rising and falling rhythmically as well as occasionally shuddering. Ranma stepped in to get a closer look, only to find that there were large red spots amongst the water logged coat.

He pulled the top off to find a small boy, no more than ten, lying unconscious in a pool of his own watered-down blood. Ranma soundlessly gulped before turning back to Akane, who had gone pale. "Akane," he said trying to break her out of her trance, "Akane," he tried again waving his hand in front of her face. Quickly running out of patience he grabbed Akane roughly on the arms, causing her to look over at him, "Akane," he said again calmly, "call Dr. Tofu, I'll check the boy and see if I can bring him into the house." He let her go, but she didn't move off until Ranma finally losing his patience with her, nearly yelled "Move now!" It got her moving back toward the house at breakneck speed. Ranma turned back to the boy and slowly began checking his wounds.

Ten minutes later Dr. Tofu arrived at the back wall of the Tendo estate where Ranma sat watching the boy. "How bad is he?" Tofu asked in a professional manner.

"It's bad," Ranma responded passively, "he's got a lot of pretty deep cuts, at least three broken ribs, a cracked skull, a badly broken leg, and a mess of smaller cuts and bruises." If it wasn't for his 'Soul of Ice' training he would be very, **very** angry, "It looks like he was on the wrong side of a very violent parent," he wondered aloud, part of him wanted to run off and find the bastard that would beat their kid _that _badly, and show him what it is like to be beaten within an inch of his life. He deepened the Soul of Ice, pushing the desire for vengeance out of his mind, he was deep enough that he didn't care that Tofu's expression changed to one of controlled fury as he was probably thinking the same as Ranma.

Shaking his head Tofu opened his travel case and looked inside with a frown. Pushing it aside he started slowly rubbing his hands together, a slight pink glow began emanating from his hands. Ranma stared in wonder, forgetting his anger and the Soul of Ice as he watched the glow become brighter and more vivid. He watched as Dr. Ono began walk his hands gently over the boy's abdomen, where the broken ribs were as he felt the chi pass from one body to another, the doctor then moved to the boy's head and again there was the ripple of air as the chi was exchanged between the two.

Tofu then worked on the major injuries, the internal bleeding, and a inflamed appendix that Ranma couldn't see. The doctor gestured for Ranma to hold the boy down, a slight amount of perspiration covering his face. He then grabbed the boys broken leg and pulled hard, setting the two halves of the bone. He then started the glowing hand thing again and placed them over the injured leg.

Suddenly he stopped, breathing heavily for a moment before turning to Ranma, "I've done all I can, and more than I should, take him inside. Then come back for me." He said before falling unconscious right there.

Ranma gingerly picked up the boy and turned toward home, noting Kasumi and Akane standing there looking both surprised and worried. "Well, whatcha waiten' there fer tomboy," Ranma said, trying to sound serious, "bring the Doc in." Akane didn't say anything she grabbed Tofu by the waist and lifted him into a fireman's carry, and fell into step behind Ranma. Laying both doctor and patient on spare futons in the dojo they all sit around the table quietly waiting for someone to explain the situation.


	2. Meals, Memories and Mommy?

Chapter 2: Meals, Memories, and… Mommy?

"So," Soun started hesitantly, as Ranma walked in "is the boy settled in?" Ranma nodded, flumping down heavily in seat, bloodstained trenchcoat draped over his arm, "Yeah, Pop, I'll be fine, the guy who did this ain't going to be so lucky." He flopped the wet coat onto the table, not missing the audible metal clank. "Wha…?" Ranma started reaching into the wet coat, ignoring the Tendo's protests which ranged from, "That's improper." to, "Ranma you jerk, you don't look through other people's belongings. Especially when they're less then fifty yards away!" They were all silenced by a soft metallic click, which was accompanied by the silver of the unadorned wakizashi blade in Ranma's hands. Putting the blade and it's sheath on the table, he looked at everyone, "Um, guys, how many eight year olds that you know of carry a wakizashi?" at the blank stares he nodded, "Thought so." He sighed, "What are we going to do about him?"

"We're going to have to inform the authorities, and find his family." Akane responded coldly, tone implying what she would do to that family.

"Yes, Akane's right," Soun started, "We can't sully the Tendo name by having-"

"Don't finish that sentence Soun," Genma growled, causing everyone (even Nabiki, and especially Ranma) to stare in disbelief, and before Soun could begin crying he continued, "it is a martial artist's duty to protect the weak. That boy is weak and he'll be staying here, until his parents find him," he paused for a second, "Or until we can _prove_ he's a ronin."

"Wow Pop didn't think you were actually honorable." For once Ranma was impressed with his dad…

"Wha? Oh, to think that I have such an ungrateful son, he doesn't think I'm honorable." Was the whined response.

…was being the appropriate word.

"And who was the one who kept selling his only son for food every chance he got?" Was Nabiki's curt reply.

"That's not important, right now," Akane said, cutting Genma off, "we should see what the kid needs when he wakes up."

In the dojo, the subject of their concerns was slowly gaining consciousness. As rational thought began asserting itself, it carried questions. Where was he? How'd he get there? Why'd he want to sneeze all of the sudden? The questions slowly went away as he heard someone mumbling something over and over again. He pushed all the other thoughts to the back of his mind as he focused on the other occupants sleep induced muttering. All he heard was "Kasumi…" repeated over and over again. What is a 'kasumi'? No, it's a name, he thought, so who is Kasumi? That brought another question, Who am I? In order to figure that out, he rationalized, he'd have to get up and find people who spoke more than a name. He opened his eyes and noticed the polished wooden ceiling sitting there. He rolled his head around taking in his surroundings, it was a large room, and empty, there were a couple of person shaped… things, leaning against the wall, but nothing else but him and the mumbler, who had seen fit to roll over so all that could be seen was the back of his head. He was going to get up but whatever he was laying on was so comfortable, that he just waited.

He waited for about an hour before giving up on others, apparently the mumbler was the only person nearby. It also took the boy an hour to realize he was with out his coat and blade. He almost shot of the futon, but every muscle in his body protested the sudden movement and he collapsed with a shocked gasp. Slowly working his way up he managed to stand, if only for a second, before a lance of fire slowly shot from his leg, knocking him to the futon once more. Once more he struggled upwards, this time coming to a rest on his knees, looking around once more he found a few long pieces of wood, they resembled his blade but were much longer. He managed to crawl over and select the one that would make the perfect crutch. He then made his way to the double doors of the room and slowly wandered, looking for his stuff. He didn't remember why it was his but it was and that was all that mattered. Soon he started hearing voices, as he got closer the voices was accompanied by a slight pressure within his skull. He ignored it and moved closer, the voices were dulled by his ever-growing headache. Finding a door open he peaked around the corner, what ever he saw was mute as he felt a sharp stab behind his eyes, stumbling forward he let out a pained groan. He didn't notice that the talking had stopped but his vision cleared enough to see everyone staring at him, his blade sitting on the low table. A guy, bigger than him, with black hair drawn into a pig-tail, got up slowly and moved toward him, another lance of pain and fire cut him off from consciousness.

Ranma held the new-comer gently. Not knowing what to do he passed the kid off to the nearest person, which turned out to be Kasumi. She cradled the child in her arms, "He certainly is cute," she said stroking his hair, then she looked at the wall clock, she gasped, "Oh my, I need to start lunch, Akane hold him please." She put the unconscious boy in her youngest sister's arms and headed off into the kitchen.

Akane looked down at the young boy, Kasumi's right he's cute, she thought, makes me wish I had one of my own. If only Ranma… She shut down that train of thought and looked away from Ranma, who she started staring at when she thought about having kids, her face suddenly very warm, and no doubt very red.

Ranma looked at Akane quizzically, what was she thinking? She looked down at the kid, then looked at me, with hopeful… Ahh. Ranma found the floor very interesting all the sudden, his blush matching hers in color and intensity. After about a minute of awkward silence Dr. Ono rushed in, "Mr. Tendo, the child…" he skidded to a halt, seeing his patient in Akane's arms, "is right here." He finished soberly before switching over into a serious tone, "Akane hold him still, I need to check him again." He then poked and prodded the poor child still held in Akane's arms, which were starting to get numb. Soon he was finished, "He seems fine, make sure he eats his fill and keep him off his right leg, it's still broken." His eyes passed over to the naked steel of the wakizashi on the table, "Where'd that come from?"

"The kids coat," Ranma replied picking the blade up as Akane dropped to sit at the table with the child's head resting in her lap, "I'm not sure if it's me but this blade feels funny." He flipped it end over end catching the weapon by the blade and holding out to Tofu. Taking it he stepped back pumping his arm up and down a bit before breaking into a kata with the weapon, he stopped after the third form, frowning. "It's light," he pronounced, flicking the blade experimentally, "aluminum maybe? No, no, it's definitely titanium." He then 'dropped' it onto the side of his hand watching as the blade balanced perfectly, the weapon's center right above where the hilt would be. He held it back to Ranma to replace the sheath. "That's a rather high quality weapon Ranma," he said after he heard the soft click, locking the weapon in place, he was about to continue when Kasumi stepped into the room with a plate of sandwiches and a bowl of broth, "Lunch is ready, oh hello Dr. Tofu will you be joining us?"

Tofu's glasses fogged, he opened his mouth to say something stupid,

Click

Tofu just stood shocked, glasses no longer fogged, the icy prick of the wakizashi against his back, he gulped before managing a glare at Ranma who stood behind him looking rather innocent as he held the blade against the doctor's back, "Yes he will Kasumi." Ranma responded.

Kasumi passed out the sandwiches and poured a shallow bowl of broth which she passed to Akane. "He looks so thin." She remarked indicating the boy in Akane's lap.

"Yeah," Akane responded in a motherly tone as she brushed some hair out of his face, which almost caused Ranma to drop the weapon he had in one hand, and the sandwich he had in the other. Wow, he thought, she's so cute with that kid. Oh no. She's looking at me that way again. He quickly looked elsewhere to keep from acknowledging Akane's momentary, longing glance. "Wake him," Nabiki said, genuinely concerned, "he needs to eat something."

"Yeah," Akane said again, a large part of her mind still wondering what it'd be like to have a little one of her own. She grabbed the bowl of broth and gently nudged the child in her lap, "Come on," she urged, "you need to eat, little one." She tried this twice more before, taking matters into her own hands and pouring a small amount of broth into the child's mouth, who gulped it down quickly. Encouraged by this she started a small, steady, stream of broth which the child gulped down for a second before he stopped, and his eyes snapped open, revealing two emerald green eyes alight with pain, fear, and confusion. Then those emotions vanished, replaced with contentness and a small flicker of hope.

He felt someone gently nudge him and then something was said, it was repeated a few more times. It stopped and he felt something warm and wet brush his lips, and a small amount of sweet tasting liquid is poured down his throat. He quickly swallowed it, letting the warmth permeate through his body. Then a steady stream began filling his mouth. He drank it greedily, savoring the flavor. Then he realized he was being fed, and his eyes snapped open and centered on the warm brown eyes of the one feeding him. He saw no malice, no evil. Just a lonely warmth that relaxed him. He took the small bowl from her hands and drank it down quickly. He then sat up pulling himself into her warmth. He then looked imploringly at the young woman.

"Would you like something more to eat?" She said after she met his gaze, he still didn't understand what she said but he had her attention, he pointed at the bottom of the now empty bowl.

"You want some more broth?" Again he didn't understand so he just poked the bottom of the bowl with his finger rather urgently. She laughed and took the bowl from him and handed it to a taller woman, her long black hair pulled back into a low ponytail. She filled it and handed it back to the woman whose lap he sat in. She, in turn, handed it back to him. He took it and drank it slowly, noticing for the first time the dead silence, he looked around, taking in the curious and concerned looks from everyone around the table.

An old man wearing a dirty white… coat thing, and similar head wrapping, and things over his eyes. Something about this man caused a small pain to develop inside his head.

Next to him was another man, younger than the first. He wore a black coat thing, and similar things over his eyes. He seemed to be going between, anger, fear, and unbridled madness.

Once more to the left was a young man. About the same age as the woman behind him. He wore a simple outfit, a red shirt, and a pair of black pants. His bright blue showed concern and anger. Him, like the first man caused a pain behind his eyes. This one was stronger, burning itself into his head. With a shake of his head to clear it he moved on.

There was a young woman, she was dressed for something, but not this. Her brown eyes showed great intelligence, as well as a depth of loneliness, slightly covered by a façade that seemed to be wearing thin.

There was another old man, he was crying muttering something he couldn't understand, if he understood what was going on at all. He seemed to be extraordinarily happy with… something.

Moving on, the was the older woman who seemed to dish out the food. She had a happy, if distant, expression on her face. She occasionally spared a glace at the second man at the table, blushed and then busied herself with her sandwich.

Noting the large pile of sandwiches that he missed earlier. He tugged on the youngest woman's sleeve, when she looked down at him again, smiling. She looks like mommy, he thought silently before turning his attention to the problem at hand. Suddenly hesitant he slowly pointed to the sandwiches before turning back to 'mommy' with a question in his eyes. She looked at the food and nodded to the food lady, who laid two triangles out in front of him. He quickly palmed them off the table and had eaten one before there was large fit of laughter from those assembled. He quickly looked at mommy to see if he did something wrong. She slowly shook her head and said, "Keep eating, your relation to the Saotomes will be our secret. He didn't understand so he took the fact that no one tried to take the food from him as a good thing.

Akane smiled as the child continued to eat at a furious pace, he is certainly like Ranma. She thought as the child stopped eating and put the empty bowl on the table and pushed it from him, letting out a large belch causing everyone to start laughing again. "So," she began, causing the child to look up at her, "what's your name?" The child looked blankly at her. She sighed and pointed to herself, "Akane" she said. The child still stared blankly at her. "Aaakkkaaannee" she said, stretching each syllable, and pointing furiously at her chest. The child's eyes brightened in understanding, he pointed at himself and said proudly, "Akane!"

Everyone started laughing again, and Akane blushed brightly. She tried again, this time pointing to everyone around the table and saying their name. "Akane," she started, pointing again to herself, then she pointed at Genma, "Genma," she declared, then continued around the table, "Tofu, Ranma, Nabiki, Soun, Kasumi." She saw the child look at Kasumi with a odd curiosity.

"Kasumi." He repeated, then went back around the table going the opposite way she had. "Sewn, Nabkiki, Rannam, Tufu, Genra." He pointed at Akane, "Akane." Akane then pointed back at Ranma, sensing the prompt he mangled the boy's name again, "Rannam," the finger moved stopping on another person, "Sewn," Then around the table again, "Genra, Kasumi, Tufu, Nabkiki." Then it stopped on him, he froze, mommy wanted his name, but he couldn't remember it, he couldn't remember anything. For him life started when he woke up in the big room. He looked down at his lap ashamed at himself for his inability to remember.

"Wow, Akane," Nabiki said, "you haven't said anything to him and he's upset." Akane felt horrible, she thought this would allow for some communication, "Maybe he doesn't like his name," she thought aloud, "what if it's some stupid name like Pantyhose Taro?" The boy in her lap managed to understand 'name', which he repeated over and over in his mind as she continued speaking.

Over the sea of Japan, a certain flying, tentacled, minotaur sneezed.

"Yeah," Ranma said, "it's probably something embarrassing." There was a murmur of consent, before Ranma's foot-in-mouth disease kicked in, "So kid what's your name?" the kid blushed, he still couldn't remember his name, he was about to shake his head when mommy punched Rannam out of the house, yelling "Ranma you jerk. Can't you see this is hard for him?"

There was a splash and an indignant feminine scream from the back yard. But their was a stab of pain coming from that direction. He spun to see a drenched redhead walking from the koi pond, "You didn't have to hit me you stupid tomboy." She yelled angrily, "I was trying to be helpful." She then noticed the kid's spooky stare, "Ranma?" he said inquisitively, getting the martial artist's name right. The redhead could only nod. The child didn't say anything more he just pointed at Ranma and then the spot next to him and Akane. Looking over at Akane for help, getting only a shrug in response, he reluctantly sat down.

I don't know what's going on, the boy thought, Ranma isn't a girl? Is he. Ranma's change had sparked one off in himself, the pain was finally gone but he started seeing things, feeling things that weren't supposed to be there. But he wasn't going to hide from this, no, he was going to tackle this head on. He looked at Ranma's female form and focused intently on the small glow that enveloped him… er, her. The glow intensified until a series of marks could be made out on her chest, arms, and stomach. Every mark seemed led into one spot on her chest right above the heart. It glowed pink, which connected to many other pink spots. Looking at it, nearly every mark on this aura was pink. The young boy shook his head to clear the image from his head and took another look, this time the marks on the aura faded and he could easily see a male Ranma overlapping the female one. He shook his head again and Ranma looked normal, no strange glowing, no twin images, nothing. He let out a big sigh of relief, hoping that the topic of his name wouldn't come up again.

But it did after about three minutes of silence Genma spoke up, "Genma," he said pointing to himself, "you are?" he pointed to the boy. Akane swung back her fist to knock the panda into the koi pond but was stopped when the child grabbed her arm, he shook his head, before continuing "I…" he shook his head again, "…name…" he then pointed to his head then shook it yet again.

"Huh?" was Ranma's response who was trying to decipher what the kid had said.

"I think he said he doesn't remember his name." Nabiki said, still bristling from 'Nabkiki', it was close but it reminded her of the stupid principal at Furinkan High.

"Ohh, maybe it's amnesia," Ranma said. "Hey doc." After getting no response looked over to see Tofu's glasses had fogged again and he was busily eating a sandwich. Ranma grabbed a bowl and chucked at the doctor's head skewing his glasses and knocking him out of his daze.

"That hurt you know," the now sane Tofu said, replacing his glasses.

"Yeah whatever," Ranma replied. "Could the blow to the head have induced amnesia?"

"Well, yes," the doctor said, "but it wouldn't be enough for him to forget his own name. Once you accept it, the name becomes reflex, and many traumas don't remove reflexes."

"Right," Ranma drawled understanding half of what was said, she turned back to the kid, "So what do you want your name to be?"

"Huh?" was the response.

"Your name," she said slowly, "what you want?" The kid thought for a second taking apart the syllables of the sentence, he came to a dead end, he had no idea what he should be called, "Akane name me," he said finally.

"Okay why?" Akane liked the idea of naming the little boy, but she wanted to know why.

"Akane mommy. Mommy name me," he said simply, as if it was making perfect sense.

"I'm/She's what!" was the startled cry from everyone at the table.

"Akane mommy," he said again, his tone bringing their sanity into the question.

Thud

"Oh my."

Everyone but Kasumi and the young boy fainted.

Author's notes- I realize many of the character's are OoC, but they never encountered child abuse in the manga (I think) so cut me some slack.

gort420- thanks, this is the first time I acctually had a story in the public veiw (second if you count the Diadem fic) and I'm still kinda nervious.

Xtor49- Less is not always better, easier to read on the site but not neccesarilly better. I've tried to format this so it's easier to read but their will still be large chunks of text. I'm writing more in a novel format rather than a comic format. The difference is in the description, novels use lots of words while comics use little.

Anyway I need some help, in the next chapter Akane's going to name the kid, and I would really apreiciate some suggestions. I've ran through the internet and haven't found one that matches the Takahashi's naming conventions or the character. It would be great if you can also leave the meaning. So any help would be greatly appreiciated.


	3. The Letter, The Book, and The Tiger

Chapter 3: The Letter, The Book, and The Tiger

Akane was lying in field of flowers. They stretched as far as the horizon, except Akane wasn't looking that far, she mostly was concerned with the black haired martial artist next to her. He was lying on his back trying not to be obvious staring at her, but failing miserably. "Akane," he said as he rolled over, startling her, "there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time." He was nervous causing him to blush.

"Yes Ranma," She replied hoping that he was going to tell him that he loved her.

"It's just that…" he started stuttering again, "I… this isn't easy for me."

"That's alright take your time." She was going to get it out of him at his own pace, she could wait just a little longer.

"It's that I… I'm." He took a very deep breath, "I don't love you." It took a long while for his words to sink in, "Why?"

"I don't know 'Kane, it's just that someone else has my heart."

"Then who does? Shampoo? Ukyo? Kodachi?" As she spoke her voice cracked, and she began crying.

"No," He responded, almost laughing before she could ask again he pointed behind her, "she does."

Akane spun around, seeing a petite redhead, bouncing through the flowers toward them, seconds later, the redhead propelled herself into Ranma. Looking at them both all she could say was: "Why?" She was badly hurt from his confession.

"You were late honey." The redhead said, reaching her arms around Ranma's neck before pulling him into a rather passionate kiss. After a few second they came up for air, "What she said," he breathed huskily.

"Mommy," another voice cut in.

"What? How?" Akane asked ignoring the new voice.

"She's a big girl!" Ranma responded, wrapping his arms around the redhead's neck and putting his chin on top of her head.

"Mommy, wake up." This time the voice was urgent, worried.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Is she thick or something?" The redhead asked, grabbing Ranma's arm and placing his hand on her breast. "I'll make this clear Akane. Ranma likes **big** girls."

Understanding dawned on Akane, "So I didn't have I chance, you were just stringing me along." She was angry. "You never had any intention of breaking off the engagement, you just didn't want to admit that you were attracted to your cursed form." Suddenly her mallet was in her hand, jumping she closed the distance to the two lovebirds, screaming, "Ranma no baka!"

Akane awoke with a start, the first thing she focused on was the child who insisted on calling her mother was sitting at the table reading a pretty thick book. No he wasn't reading, he was paging through the book, an expression of total focus on his face. Akane managed to sneak up behind him and see the book he was looking at, it was the dictionary. The kid stopped and pointed to one word, mother. He then began to look from word to word, flipping from page to page, muttering the few words he understood. Then he stopped and gripped the bridge of his nose. Suddenly he spun around quickly and tackled Akane, "Mommy!" he called happily, hugging her tightly. Akane was knocked to the ground, unsure of what to do. Well that wasn't a dream, she thought, but does he really want me to name him? "Umm, kid?" she started, unsure of how to address him, "Are you sure you want to me to name you?"

"You no want to?" the boy asked sadly his eyes watering up.

"Nonono," Akane responded quickly, trying to avert the waterworks, "It's just I wanted to be sure this is what you want." She was still pretty startled to sudden jump in the child's vocabulary. Just how long had she been out?

"Okay!" he said, then he slid back on her lap and his smile quickly evaporated, "Why you like Ranma?"

Akane was startled, maybe she talking in her sleep. But then she noticed the odd look she was getting as the young boy looked her from top to bottom. It was the same one he used on Ranma when he saw his curse, "What do you mean, like Ranma?"

"You, have…" his brain tried to go through the list of words he could remember, he drew his hand across his chest, "marks on you, but they different of Ranma's."

Akane looked at herself, she didn't look any different. What is he talking about. "I don't get it?" she said finally.

"He can see our Jusenkyo curses, I think." Ranma, now a man, said, coming out of the bathroom.

"But I'm not cursed." Akane retorted, "I fell into a blank pool."

"Which became the 'Spring of Drowned Akane' and you were the first victim.""Really?" Akane asked.

"Yep" Ranma nodded, smiling, "and from now on you're cursed to become yourself. Lucky huh?" Before she respond she was splashed with cold water. Looking at the child who still held a glass of warm water in his other he looked at her with the same focus he had with the book earlier. Then he dumped the warm water on her while still staring at her. Satisfied with the way things were his smile returned, he pointed to the book he left on the table.

"You want me to read to you?" Akane ventured, at the nod she grinned coyly, "Aren't you eight or something, you should be able to read on your own."

He looked at the ground, shrugged then shook his head. "It's alright, you can talk."

"Not as long as I'm in tha room." Ranma said, "When every one passed, he stopped talking ta anyone. He'll only talk ta you apparently, alone." Akane blushed slightly at this.

"Okay but I'm not reading the dictionary, we'll start with something easier." She set the kid down and began to walk to her room, the child a crutch step behind. Then came the stairs, "Ummm, Mommy?" he said quietly. Akane turned around suddenly, berating herself for not remembering the bad break the child had. She hopped down the stairs and knelt down, "Come on I'll give you a piggy back." She said, somehow unable to keep the laughter out of her voice. The little urchin wrapped his arms around her neck, and she grabbed his legs and pulled them in tight, earning a slight hiss of pain from the small boy. Baka, she said to herself, hitting herself a couple of times with her mental mallet, that's the second time you forgot about his broken leg, maybe Doctor Tofu can help.

Ranma who was watching the entire exchange silently managed to unglaze his eyes. Damn, he thought, unused to this Akane, I can't say she's uncute anymore. A tomboy still, but never uncute. His mind switched gears, I **really **hope that she's that nice when _we _have… whoa, calm down Ranma, this is Akane we're talking about.

Yes, another part of his mind agreed, the seldom listened to part, that is Akane, the caring, motherly side. You have to agree that she's really attractive with that kid. If you buck up and tell her-

I don't love her, the other voice interrupted, I can't love her, she's thick, built like a brick, can't kick-

You ever notice that you complain to much? There was a mental sigh. You know you're right about the love thing though, I mean-

I'm right? I mean of course I'm right. There is no way we could love that sexless tomboy.

That's not what I'm getting at. Another sigh, You have to learn not to interrupt me when I have something important to say.

…

That's better, now as I was saying we can't love Akane. Nor Shampoo, Ukyo, or, Ranma shivered, Kodachi.

Okay why, a third voice entered the fray, slightly disappointed with the current turn of discussion, I mean Shampoo's hot, and Ukyo's a great cook, and Akane has a fiery spirit, why can't we have all three?

Ranma preempted this 'discussion' by standing up, walking into the back yard, and starting the most complicated kata he knew. Once peace settled on his mind again, he started picking up speed, completely unaware of the green and brown eyes staring at him.

In Akane's room, the young boy and his 'mommy' were seated on the bed a book in the older girl's hands. Both had stopped reading the book to watch Ranma practice outside. Akane let out a longing sigh, I wish I Ranma could train me, that way we'd be close and I…, she blushed as the scene played out in her head, I don't love that baka. If that's true then why do I keep fantasizing about him?

The little boy heard his mother sigh, the tone longing not missed by him, "Momma are you alright?" he asked. She blushed and shook her head. "Then why you so upset?"

"It's Ranma," she said, biting her lip, she didn't want to say anything to a complete stranger, "we're both martial artists and he won't train me because he won't hit girls."

"Maybe he afraid?" he guessed. His mother shook her head.

"No, I think he doesn't think I'm a real martial artist." She sniffled, part of her wanted to bear her soul for the child that called her mother.

"I help." He declared puffing his chest out. With everything, he added mentally

"How? Your leg's broken." Akane asked, not understanding.

"I male." He replied, one of Nabiki's grins plastered on his face, something you see on many eight-year-olds, it was creepy. It hit Akane like a ton of bricks, the boy could trick Ranma into training her. "Okay, but what's it going to cost me?"

"Read." He said snuggling up against her, causing a warmth to spread from the pit of her stomach. Right then, acting on impulse, she pulled the little boy into a fierce hug. The huggie didn't seem to mind and hugged her back. In a far off part of his mind he was worried, he was missing an important piece of knowledge, which caused him to seek out reading material, it had something to do with his coat, he just knew it. But this was a small part of his mind as most of it was focused on his mother's speaking, trying to divine meanings from her words, and associate them to the symbols on the page.

The coat, as luck would have it was draped across Kasumi's arms, on it's way to the wash. She looked at the label, which had washing instructions in dark angry kanji, it had the implied, and actual message of:

NEVER WASH, YOUR VERY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!

(This is not a joke.)

(Seriously)

"Oh, my." Kasumi said, looking up for a second, "I guess I shouldn't wash this then."

Some how the coat fell, as if face-vaulting, spilling the remaining contents, an envelope seemingly made of… parchment?… and a small hardbound book. Kasumi picked them up and walked out to the family room where Nabiki was regaining consciousness. The middle Tendo, seeing the torn and bloody coat groaned, "It's true then," it wasn't a question, "Akane picked herself up a little rascal, and the Tendo's picked up a new financial drain."

"Don't be so hard on him," Kasumi said placing the articles on the table before turning to face her sister, "he didn't ask to be here. Besides he kind of reminds me of you."

"What?" was the only response Nabiki could come up with.

"Well, he is smart, he tried to read the dictionary mind you, he has many passing familial features to you." She paused for a second, "In fact if you two were sitting close together, many would believe that he was your son."

Nabiki was frozen, she couldn't have a son, could she? No she'd never been pregnant, had she? The weight of these and other questions simply caused her to tip over, showing that she had lost consciousness.

"I think you broke her, Kasumi." Ranma said from the door way looking over to the coat he noticed the two new things, "What are those?"

"I don't know, they came out of the child's coat." She walked over and checked on Nabiki, pulling the blanket back over her sister before walking into the kitchen.

Ranma looked around a bit savoring one of the few quiet moments at the Tendo dojo. He lay back on the porch letting the warm sun wash over him, however he couldn't relax. He kept stealing glances at the envelope that had been placed on the table, it was practically calling for him to look inside. After about a half hour he got up and grabbed the envelope off the table. On one side was a piece of artful calligraphy that read: To the kid with the coat. On the other side was nothing, not even a seam, "Okay," Ranma thought aloud, "That's new." Placing it aside he picked up the hardbound volume, it looked about twenty years old, but it was in a style that is now seen on those weird books that you find in the Role-playing Games section of bookstores. It even had the heavy metal clasp, that wouldn't budge no matter how hard Ranma yanked on it. With an indignant sigh he tossed the heavy book back on the table. He moved back into the light of the setting sun, where he fell asleep.

Ranma was wandering through the empty Tendo household. It was unnaturally silent compared to what he knew it should be. He wandered toward the only sound, quiet laughter. His feet led him to Akane's door, where he could make out Akane's laugh, as well as a strange masculine one. Ryoga, he thought as he nearly ripped the door off it's hinges. Only Ryoga wasn't there, the mystery man was a grown up version of the child that Akane found outside the dojo this morning.

"Oh Ranma," an older Akane said looking slightly mad at his sudden appearance, "what are you doing here?"

"I live in the next room Akane," Ranma was taken aback by the apparent anger in his fiancée's voice.

"No you don't," the boy said standing up, reaching full height a full five inches above Ranma, "not after you betrayed my families trust."

"What did I do?" he asked, not understanding what was going on.

"What did you do?" Akane asked now visibly angry, "You kept something very important from me." She lashed out with a kick to the stomach, knocking Ranma against the wall. "You conveniently forgot to mention that you were gay." Another kick, against his skull, throwing him down the hall.

"I'm not gay." Ranma retorted, spitting blood.

"Not gay!" Akane was screaming, "Then how come you're married to Ryoga?" She was about to charge forward when the boy grabbed her by the shoulder, "I'll handle this mom." He turned to Ranma, "Of course you're not gay, Ranma, you were supposed to be a woman, so loving Ryoga isn't homosexual-"

"But-"

"- it's that stupid curse that gets in the way of things. I'll fix that for you." The boy closed his eyes, and began muttering something under his breath. A strong wind blew through the hall as Ranma felt his curse activate and he watched as his body became more and more female. Then the wind stopped, leaving a female Ranma sprawled against the wall. "It's done," the boy said grinning evilly, "Ranma Saotome died this day. You're now stuck as a woman forever." He started laughing, and was soon joined by Akane, and then Shampoo, Ukyo, Mousse, Kodachi, Nabiki, Kasumi, Soun, Genma, and Nodoka.

"Don't worry we still love you." Came Ryoga's voice from the crowd, which parted and the lost boy, and Tatewaki walked toward Ranma. "Don't worry Ranko," Ryoga said serenely, "I'll always be there for you." Ryoga leaned in, closing the space between them, their lips about to meet when…

BOOOOM!

Thunder exploded through the darkening sky waking a soaked and female Ranma from his rather disturbing dream, no, make that nightmare, "What kami did I piss off in another life to have this happen to me?" He asked to the heavens. No answer came.

In the heavens the kami were asking them selves the same question, many minor luck and chaos spirits were blamed and summarily made into American Idol contestants. Simon Cowell made all of them cry. Nothing was done to help Ranma.

Back at the Tendo dojo, in Akane's room, the mysterious boy finally grasped reading, beaming brightly he turned to his mom, hoping to see some form of approval at his mastery of a new skill, only to find that she was sleeping peacefully. Suddenly yawning, he found sleep to be appealing and he curled up next to Akane and fell asleep.

Ranma walked toward the kitchen, hoping to find hot water. Kasumi stuck out her head, "Ranma, dinner is ready can you get Akane and our new guest? They're in her room." She noticed the redhead standing in front of her, and disappeared, returning seconds later, with the spare kettle for situations like this. Ranma took the kettle changed back into a guy, "I'll get Akane."

He flashed up the stairs, not wasting any time so he could eat. Stopping in front of Akane's he knocked quietly, "Akane, dinner's ready." There was no response, he knocked again, a little louder this time. Still nothing. Running low on patience he opened the door ready to deliver a biting remark. He stopped, seeing Akane sleeping peacefully with her arms wrapped protectively around the little boy, who held on to a children's book, he was also sleeping peacefully. The scene took Ranma's breath away, Akane looks so pretty, he mused to himself, then he noticed the small smile on her face. She is cute when she smiles. He found himself walking slowly toward her, reaching down and brushing and errant lock of hair out of her face. She sighed and muttered something that sounded like, "Ranma…" the tone of voice was unmistakable, it was a soft longing. The sound broke Ranma from his reverie, not knowing how to react he grabbed Akane's shoulder and rocked her gently, "Akane dinner's ready." Her eyes opened, "Ranma," she growled, "what are you doing in my room?"

"I… uh, I was waking you up for dinner." He responded suddenly nervous.

"Really Ranma," Akane still didn't trust him, "you weren't going to do anything perverted were you?"

"In front of the kid?" He asked, pointing at the child Akane still held, "No. Dinner's ready." He took this opportunity to run never noticing the green eyes that stared at his retreating form. As soon as Ranma left he rolled over and looked at his mom, "Why do you push Ranma away?"

"Because he's a pervert," Akane's knee jerk response came out.

"Because he turn's into a girl?" Was the accusing response.

"Wha-, No! It's complicated." Akane really didn't want to talk about it in front of an eight-year-old, then she noticed the use of complete sentences. "When did you get so good at speaking Japanese?"

"About the same time I learned to read it," he shrugged, "the words clicked, and suddenly I'm reading with no difficulty. Speaking came next. Let's get something to eat."

"Okay." She leaned down in front of the bed, "I'll take you."

"No thanks mom, I want to try the stairs on my own." He grabbed his bokken-crutch and moved out for the food room. I still need to build my vocabulary apparently, the boy thought. They walked in silence till they came to the stairs, "Are you sure you don't want to be carried?" Akane asked as the boy stopped, glaring at the stairs as if they were an old enemy.

He shook his head, "I have to do this on my own." He then leaned onto the bokken, balancing on the tip and hoped to the step below- or would have if he had a real crutch and not the bokken he took- the blade slipped and his foot caught the edge of the step, tipping him over, causing him to slide down the remaining steps, "Ow," was all the boy said as Akane, Kasumi, and Dr. Tofu rushed to his side, Nabiki looked sour, trying to determine the reason for kid's appearance. Ranma was having trouble balancing, with both arms holding the food tray Kasumi just dropped, and his leg extended behind him for balance, he looked like a regular yoga student. Soun and Genma looked over at the boy, then went back to there game of shogi.

The boy brushed away the worriers, making shooing motions with his hand. Kasumi relived Ranma of the food tray, upsetting the precarious balancing act, making him fall. The boy then made his way over to the table, where he saw a book and what looked to be a letter, he tugged on Akane's sleeve and pointed to the letter, "What's that," Akane asked as Kasumi began to dish out rice. Everyone shrugged, "We don't know," Nabiki said before anybody else, "we can't open it, but it's addressed to your son."

"What?" was everybody's (except Kasumi) response.

"It's addressed to the little guy who calls you mommy," Nabiki said condescendingly, "thus he's your son."

"Despite the fact he could pass as your child?" Was Ranma's curt response. This caused another rounds of What's leaving Nabiki scowling, Kasumi oblivious, and Ranma grinning, everybody else was in a state of shock, well not the little boy who was now reaching for the envelope, his skin tingling from the contact. He read the front and flipped it over, noting the lack of seam he placed it back on the book and turned his attention toward the bowl of food in front of him.

Everyone was about to eat when the chaos that surrounded Ranma returned. The wall exploded, a bell rang, and a purple blur glomped onto Ranma, "Nihao, Arien" she sang in her usual sing-song voice, "Shampoo no find you at lunch. Shampoo made to good ramen for Ranma." A bowl of steaming hot ramen appears out of the Cat café carrier, the young boy closes his eyes for a second, before the bright pink glow blinds him. Pink? Like the scars on Ranma's aura, they were magical attacks on him. Purpose? They were to force him into something, change his personality, change his choice of body soaps? He tugged on his mother's sleeve causing her to look over, "Magic food," he whispered.

Akane looked back at the two of them, Ranma was squirming uncomfortably and Shampoo was trying to get him to eat her 'special ramen', "Ranma, she's put _another_ potion in there, I wouldn't eat it." Both of them stopped, Shampoo had an odd look on her face and Ranma looked angry, "Is it true kid?" he was ignoring Shampoo. The boy nodded then pointed to a spot right on his chest, right above his heart. Ranma didn't understand at first then he remembered when a spot first showed up there, he remembered the 'koi rod of love' that Ryoga accidentally used on him.

"Shampoo," Ranma said coldly, Shampoo looked up but was confused, the boy knew there was a potion in her ramen, "how powerful is that potion?"

"How boy know potion in ramen?"

The boy shrugged.

"Shampoo ask question!"

Again the boy shrugged. Shampoo was fuming and nearly lunged at the boy.

"Shampoo shut up!" Akane yelled, "And get out of here."

"Stupid pervert girl no tell Shampoo what to do." She crouched for the lunge and grabbed her bonbori from wherever they were kept, she shot forward, only to cut short by a loud feral growl and the sudden appearance of a wooden blade holding her across the table. Her sudden tunnel-vision widened and she saw the mute boy half-kneeling with both hands on the blade, his eyes golden slits, "No one attacks my mom." His voice was like venom and made no illusions to the desire for her to continue so he could, her cursed form wanted to run, the spirit of the cat that drowned in that pool so long ago didn't want to die, again. Shampoo also recognized the need to run, if only to consult the her great-grandmother before continuing. She leaned off the blade and took off running, leaving the bike, the ramen carrier, and the bowl of ramen behind.

Everyone stared at the child's eyes which were slowly returning to the proper shape, if staying golden. Ranma was frozen, both he and Akane recognized the growl, it belonged on a tiger, like the one they encountered when Gosunkugi had them trapped beneath the stage, not a small boy.

"How'd you do that?" Nabiki said surprised, angry that she couldn't keep a cool expression for more than two hours before this kid pulled something out his ass to keep her off-balance.

The boy simply shrugged.

"Oh my, I'd better throw this away," Kasumi said, picking up the bowl of magic ramen, she turned to find the bokken blade in her path, looking over at it's wielder with surprise, he shook his head and motioned for the bowl, "you want this?" He nodded, never once taking his greening eyes off her. She handed it off to the little boy who placed it next to him like a small pet and he continued eating as if nothing happened. Everyone also resumed eating, including Ranma who had recovered from his exposure to c-c-c, feline sounds.

"I figured out a name for our guest," Akane said finally, trying to dispel the thick tension in the room.

"Akane you know if you name it you'll want to keep it." Nabiki joked, thinking of P-chan.

"Please tell me it's not a pet name like P-chan," Ranma mock begged, earning him a punch to the arm from his fiancée.

"It's nothing like that baka." Akane responded, "I've decided after our recent performance to name him Koji."

"How cute," Kasumi said clapping, "'baby tiger', it is a nice name."

"I can definitely see that."

"Ko-ji," was Koji's only response, apparently sounding out his own name, "Koji." Suddenly he hugged Akane, "Thank you mommy!" Akane was suddenly wondering what was going coming next.

On the hills over looking Nermia a cloaked figure looks at the city, what an interesting place, it thought, I wonder if this place was ever normal.

Author's Notes

ranma girl 14- and you'll keep wondering if I have anything to say about it

gort420- Thank you, I get the same compliment in my writing class.

Xtor49- I understand you're point, and I apologize for talki- er- writing down to you. But in some novels I read the entire page is a paragraph. There are times in Harry Potter where there are well over 300 words in a paragraph. But I understand you're point and I'm doing the best I can.

That being said keep reading, I have more surprises in store. laughs evilly

Also, if any of my translations are off tell me.


	4. Melting

Chapter 4: Melting

Koji's first dinner was relatively peaceful after Shampoo's sudden appearance and departure, oddly the storm that had thoroughly soaked Ranma, Shampoo missed by minutes, though it was unlikely that she managed to make it back to the Nekohaten unaccosted by the weather. Koji didn't understand his new home, for some reason Nabiki was mad at him, Mommy seemed to fight with Ranma, who fought with Mommy and Mr. Saotome, who fought back. There was a lot of tension in the air over the apparently evil bowl of ramen, and Ranma froze when he defended Mommy. He managed to eat his fill and not have to much food spilt on him by the Ranma or Genma, then it hit him, everyone had a last name except him, in one of his few bouts of courage he asked, "What's my last name?" The simplicity of the statement caused everyone to freeze.

"You don't have one," was Ranma's callous response, earning him a swat in the arm from his fiancée.

"You don't have to be jerk about it Ranma," Akane said angrily, then turning to Koji she sighed, "we don't know your last name, Koji, though once _we_ do a little research we should be able to find your real family." Everybody knew that _we_ means _Nabiki_, making her moodier, because she couldn't make any profit on finding the kid's real family, so normally she wouldn't try. But this time she'll do it because all she has to do is hit up a library and then search for any missing children that matches Koji's description, inform the authorities and have the kid taken away, it would cost her nothing…

"But I wanna stay here." Koji protested, pouting cutely.

Except food, lodging, clothing, etc.

"If you have a real family," Nabiki started, trying to detach herself from the situation, "they'll want you back. And we can't keep you then."

"I'll come back." Koji threatened.

"And get Akane arrested for kidnapping?" Nabiki asked. The boy furiously shook his head, trying hard not to cry. Nabiki almost felt her heart break at the boy's emotional state. "You know what Koji," she was going to regret this later, "I make you a deal, if I can't find your real family, or can prove that they abused you, I'll get you adopted into the Tendo clan myself."

"Nabiki…" Akane breathed, oddly touched by her sister's concern.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Nabiki." Oddly enough it was Ranma who said this.

"And why's that?" Akane responded trying not to get angry, trying hard.

"'Cause there's no one in this room who has the time to take care of Koji. My mom however has the disposable time to raise a child, as she keeps hoping that I'll marry and have many mistresses so that she could have many grandchildren," it was a solid argument, Ms. Saotome did have a lot of time on her hands. "and… I, um" Ranma continued, poking his index fingers together, while looking down at the table, "that is, I, I always wanted a little brother." He was slightly red from his admission and was quiet about his ulterior motives, the boy tempered Akane's emotions and might be able to get Akane to like him, he had hopes at least.

Genma and Soun in a almost psychic moment, saw the ultimate way of pushing the engagement from the shadows and preventing the other fiancées from gaining any purchase for their engagements. The dark maelstrom that was the plan was forming in their minds, it would take some doing but would almost certainly work.

"What a wonderful idea Nabiki," they said in unison, Soun continued "you use what leverage you can muster and I'll make all the arrangements with the Saotome clan myself."

A cold shiver ran up Ranma's spine, this plan didn't bode all that well for him, he knew pain was coming, and pain never visited alone…

Earlier at the Nekohaten…

Cologne was waiting it was only a matter of time before Ranma was going to walk though the door hanging off Shampoo's arm like any proper male should. The potion in the ramen was powerful enough to make even the strongest will bend before it's suggestion, unless the Tendo girl interfered which would ruin Ranma for marriage. She noted the rain and shrugged. Even Ranma being deathly afraid of Shampoo's cursed form wouldn't keep them apart, and though Cologne herself didn't approve of bestiality, it was bound to happen with Shampoo's relationship. Cologne started counting down, ten, nine, eight… she heard footfalls, they were way too fast for her great-granddaughter to be walking home with son-in-law… five, four… she sensed Shampoo's aura, it was distraught and… afraid, what would a Amazon warrior have to fear?

The door burst open, a bolt of lightning framing Shampoo's silhouette, "Great-grandmother, we…" she started in Chinese, unfortunately the crash of thunder drowned out the rest of her sentence, and the pouring rain she managed to avoid, suddenly soaked her from head to toe, causing her to collapse into her clothes, leaving a soggy, shivering mass in the doorway of the restaurant. Cologne frowned slightly and before she could do anything Mousse ran in, gathering his 'beloved Shampoo' and her clothes and taking them into the kitchen. He wasn't wearing his glasses so he managed to grab a coat left on a chair and the chair itself. Less then seven seconds later a large blast knocked Cologne out of her chair and pink smoke blew itself out of the cracks of the door and the service window to the kitchen. "Mousse, what the hell was that?"

Outside Nermia, the cloaked figure was laughing hysterically in a maniacal and very high-pitched voice. It reached out and touched the still pool of water, looking now at a young woman with a black leotard stirring a pot while cackling manically, note to self; change laugh, it thought grimly. The figure was still a moment, and then it's head shifted back down to the pool. The insane gymnast had stopped laughing and was now looking at the concoction she was brewing thoughtfully, before grabbing a ladle and pouring herself a glass of the stuff. She drained the glass before staring in abject horror at the bubbling pot. Dropping the glass she jumped out _through_ the window, making her way across town. The figure's laughing resumed, as high pitched as ever.

Back at the Nekohaten, Cologne was attempting to extract information from Shampoo about why she was so afraid. And what exactly lived at the Tendo dojo to cause this. Mousse just came in with the tea she had asked for and had him remake it three times, emphasizing that Passion Spice was not an ingredient. Twice. The third time did have the calming extract, but it tasted horrible, so he was sent back again. "Alright Shampoo, your human, and warm," Cologne started, "Now why isn't Ranma here with you and why were you running like a bat out of hell to get back here so quickly."

"Shampoo run into snag." She said, eyes cast down.

"Akane?" Cologne asked, and a Shampoo's negative reply she ran through the list of Ranma's other suitors and rivals, each one getting a negative shake of the head from the purple haired Amazon. The shrunken elder's patience finally wore thin, "What is the problem Shampoo," she said, emphasizing her statement with a heavy blow to the table, making the china tea service jump nearly four inches, about the same distance Shampoo jumped away from her elder.

"Is small boy." Shampoo said finally, looking at the ground again.

"How could a boy stop you from getting Ranma to eat the potion to make him utterly devoted to you?"

"Saw potion."

"Amazon potions are clear Shampoo, you should know that. Try again." This was punctuated by a sharp rap to the skull from Cologne's staff.

"Pervert-girl tell Arien about potion, Arien ask boy if was true. Think boy see magic."

"Why's that."

"Point to spot where pig-boy hit Arien with koi rod of love. Never see mark, but know location."

"That shouldn't have stopped you from getting him to consume the potion."

"Arien refuse to eat ramen, Violent kitchen-destroyer tell Shampoo to shut up. Try to remove obstacle but boy hold Shampoo in air across table with stick."

"How old was this child?" Cologne was interested, this if the child was young enough Shampoo could not just gain a strong husband, but a strong child.

"Six, maybe eight," Shampoo said with a shrug, "what have to do with anything?"

"If you play your cards right you could return with a strong child in addition to a strong husband." Lights lit up on the younger Amazon's face, as she pictured her return. Then her face fell, "No work."

"Why?"

"Boy call violent kitchen-destroyer 'mom'.

"Well, we'll just hit him with a potion and then he'll be yours as well. Is there anything else about the child?"

"Is one thing, when boy hold Shampoo across table. Shampoo see cat eyes, and hear low cat growl that inspire fear."

Cologne was sipping her tea, and spat it all over Shampoo when she mentioned the feral nature of the boy in question. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!!" she yelled, obviously upset.

"Boy like cat when protected violent kitchen-destroyer. Is like neko-ken but different." Shampoo stared off into space. Cologne was worried, she hoped that the boy wasn't what she thought he was, she never wanted to meet one of _them_ again. But the power _they _could bring to the tribe was enormous, risk aside. This new turn of events could be bad for Shampoo, really bad.

Ranma felt that damned shiver again! And it wasn't cause of the storm, it cleared up right after dinner was done. It had to be pops and Mr. Tendo. He was right, pain never visited alone. He regretted bringing his mom into this, he doubted that she would actually have the time to raise a child. Besides he had the sneaking suspicion that Koji was going to be another tool to get him and Akane together. And like every other night he had no one to talk to, it was just him and the stars. "A yen for your thoughts?" a small voice asked, Ranma jumped and looked to see Koji.

"Oh, hi Koji," Ranma said slightly annoyed to see the young boy, "was just thinking 'bout the view." He swept out his hand signifying the city.

"Oh…" the boy responded looking out over the city, "it's pretty." Ranma thought so to, it was nice right here, away from all the problems in his life. Maybe Koji could be someone he could confide in, at least the eight-year-old didn't have any agenda's concerning his life… that he knew of. But Koji wouldn't talk to anybody but Akane, "Ranma," the boy said looking at him.

Oooorrrr not, Ranma thought looking at the boy, "What is it Koji?" it was odd for him to talk to anybody but Akane, and only whisper in the presence of others.

"Have you ever thought that you've forgotten something _really_ important?"

"Errr," it was a good question, "no not really. Why?" The boy looked off into the distance, "It feels like I've fallen behind somehow, like I should know much more than I do."

"Well that's just you wanting to get your memories back, I think."

Koji looked over at Ranma, "I don't think so," he replied solemnly. He turned back to the city life.

"Why did you ask me?" Ranma asked.

"You're going to be my brother, I only speak to my family." He replied, leaning against Ranma as a cold wind blew across the rooftops. He wrapped his arm around the shivering boy. They stared in silence looking up at the stars.

Akane was worried about Koji, after dinner, he seemed so happy about getting a real family that he bounced up the stairs and disappeared, she searched the house from top to bottom. The worst part of it all was that she didn't know why she was worried. She didn't think of herself as attached to the boy, but she wasn't sure. Nabiki seemed to have something against the boy, she kept giving him contemptuous looks like he was doing something wrong. Back to the problem at hand, Koji. She couldn't think of anyplace else to look, maybe Ranma would know? Where was he now, he looked slightly upset when he left, the storm was over so he might be on the roof. The roof! The one spot she hadn't checked, Ranma might be showing his 'brother' his favorite spot in the house. She quickly ran up the stairs and into her room where it was just a short hop from her window to the roof. She heard something when she entered her room, which became a conversation when she opened her window.

"What do you think of Momma?" it was unmistakably Koji's voice. Akane froze, half out of the window.

"Akane," Ranma's voice inserted itself with confusion, "I…I, ummm," he stammered, "I don't know what to think about Akane."

"Do you like her?"

"Sometimes," there was a long pause, "other times she makes me sad." The statement caused Akane's heart to feel heavy.

"Why?"

"When we first met, she wanted to be my friend," Akane could hear Ranma's depressed sigh, "she probably thought that I was a girl her age that shared her interests, someone she could be friends with."

"Then why do you call her names?"

"Because when she found out about my curse, she called me a 'sex-changing pervert', and I didn't think before I responded, I said some mean things and she hit me with the table." There was another depressed sigh, "ever since she's been bitter about the engagement, I think she wants out, but as long as I'm engaged to her I have to be loyal, and she hasn't dissolved the engagement because she wants to make me miserable." For some reason, Akane practically felt her heart rip itself in half.

"Mommy isn't like that." Koji said, slightly angry.

"I'm not so sure, sometimes she'll be nice, other times she's throwing something at me for something I have no control over." Ranma's voice was tinged anger, "When ever her precious P-chan," the sarcastic overtone was not missed by Akane, as tears formed in her eyes, "attacks me, it's somehow my fault. Most of the time I don't even touch the pig." There was another sigh, this time angry. "Then there's everything else that goes on in my life, sometimes I just want to leave." Akane almost ran up there to pound Ranma into the ground for daring to leave her, but it would just prove to Ranma that she only wanted to make him miserable.

"Then why don't you?" Koji said, his voice breaking, both angry and ready to cry at the same time.

"Because when she's nice, and not angry," Ranma paused for a bit, "it almost seems like she likes me, and suddenly everything's bearable." There was another sigh, much calmer, and almost longing, "Sometimes I wish that we met under better circumstances. That way she wouldn't get so mad at me." Akane shut the window and she sat confused on her bed, she really didn't know what to think, on one hand Ranma would leave if things didn't change, and thinking about that caused what felt like a heavy iron weight to drop in to her stomach, but when he said that he only stayed because he thought she liked him, the weight in her stomach dissolved and she felt… oddly warmed by the thought.

Up on the roof less then one hundred feet away Koji looked over the edge of the roof. He could feel mommy down there, in her room. "Why are you telling me this?" He asked, it hurt hearing such bad things about his mom.

"Because Koji," he said softly, "you're the only one in the house that I can trust, you won't use what I say against me." He shrugged indifferently, "besides you asked."

"Promise me one thing." Koji said silently, almost a whisper.

"What is it?" This could be bad. But Koji was cute, and he doubted he was able to say no.

"I want you to promise me that you'll try to be nicer to Mommy." Ranma smiled slightly, if only it were that easy, he thought. If only it were that easy.

Akane heard foot steps on the roof, it sounded like Ranma and Koji had stopped talking and were coming down. They stopped over her room and she heard more murmuring. One worried voice, Koji most likely, was starting to slowly back away. The other voice, obviously Ranma's, was trying to comfort the boy, not following. The footsteps return to the edge of the roof and then a loud scream is heard. Akane rushed to the window, nearly ripping it out of its frame to hear Koji's giggles of "Again!" Akane froze, her half formed insult lodged in her mental processes. She watched Ranma jump, maybe nine feet into the air, Koji held firmly in his arms. She heard his cry of "Wheeeee!" and smiled. She couldn't explain it, but watching Ranma and Koji play made her feel warm. She wished that her dad would have played with her like that, hell she wished her dad would have done something other than moan about mom's death. She sighed, it wasn't going to happen. She turned back to her bed and lay down, silently pondering what comes next.

Koji was walking back in to the house, his mind stewing over the things Ranma told him. But he was tired and was certain everything would look better in the morning, now where was mommy's room?

Author-- Sorry 'bout the lenght of time between updates, I ran into some writers' block and ended up going on many tangets within my own mind.

Upgrade- Yeah there's no need for that, I don't think giant paragraphs should be to much of an issue from here on out.

gort420- Acctually I already have Ryoga's meeting with Koji out lined, though it might be a tad predictable. The rests a secret, or a plot device- your choice.


	5. Chapter 5: The Beast Unleashed

Chapter 5: The Beast Unleashed

Ryoga woke groggily outside of Edo (what he thought was Edo) to a rumbling stomach, he exited his tent and got a cup of water, those guys he met in the desert were nice, giving him a months worth of gourmet quality meal for fixing that tank, the only bad thing about these M.R.E.s was the fact that he had to collect water to cook them, occasionally splashing himself, that and you needed a fork. He had started collecting canteens so he didn't have to make so many trips, just one to fill them all. He opened his breakfast and set it to boil in the little bag that came with it. He quickly ate his meal and packed up camp and started toward the city, hoping to get directions to Nermia so he could finally get Ranma back for all the trouble he's caused. With his new technique he couldn't lose…

Ranma awoke to a sneeze, looks like someone's talking about me, he thought with an absent roll of his eyes. Ranma quickly exited the room before the balding martial artist woke up and started the day's 'training'. He resisted the urge to 'check up' on his soon-to-be brother, as he stood in the hallway, it was odd, he kept looking out for the boy, whom attached himself to Akane. What was more interesting was that Ranma didn't mind, as apposed to anyone else that latched on to Akane, who almost immediately received severe beatings, that one guy, the ice skater, was a perfect example, the idiot tried to kiss **his** fiancée, **his** Akane… Wait a second, where did that come from? Ranma though in confusion, could it be that I really _like_ that uncute, sexless tomboy? Well, when she isn't trying to kill people (namely me!) she can be really cute, kinda. Ranma walked down towards the dining room, trying desperately not to think about Akane. It didn't work until he started thinking about food.

He stopped thinking about Akane and started thinking about Akane's food. Causing Ranma to throw up his hands in a gesture of futility, he went out into the back yard and started warming up, waiting for breakfast to be served. For some reason today felt like it was going to be a long day.

Koji was awake but was marveling at his extrasensory perception, he could feel where in the house everyone was, okay not everyone, just the cursed individuals. Ranma was in the yard working out, much like he did the day before, Genma was in bed apparently sleeping and Mommy was also in bed sleeping, and the bowl of ramen was hidden in the back of the fridge. Koji slowly got up and noticed Akane's fitful motions on the bed. She was rolling on the bed, moaning inanities. Koji jumped to his feet, hissing at the pain in his leg but moved toward the bed, when the occupant abruptly sat up yelling, "NO!" Koji fell back onto his butt, not expecting Mommy to wake up from her nightmare like that.

Akane looked around, sweating. She tried to remember what had awoken her, but the harder she searched her memories, the more of the dream escaped her notice. In the end all she could remember was the flash of red, a pleasant warmth, and the fear. She noticed Koji sitting on the floor looking at her with wide eyes. "Mommy," he croaked out, before continuing in a surer voice, "are you alright?"

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she smiled at the boy, "Yes Koji, I'm alright, just a bad dream."

"Oh," was the boy's intelligent response. He stood up wincing at the pain in his leg and hobbled over to his futon, grabbing his bokken-crutch. Akane noticed the clear use of his injured leg, which he couldn't stand on just yesterday. She shook her head free of the implications and got ready for school.

Breakfast was pretty much routine, with the notable exception of Koji. The other difference was that Akane seemed to eat much slower than normal. Everyone looked at Ranma like it was his fault. Ranma didn't do anything yesterday or this morning to Akane to cause her to act like this now, so he tried not to make a big deal about it, in front of their parents. Nabiki left much earlier than normal, not providing an explanation for her departure, but Soun immediately assumed the worst. What exactly that was 'worst' was still unknown as Soun began crying hysterically and nobody could make out more than the occasional, "My little girl."

Ranma left for school after Akane, leaving a disabled Koji, alone, with the two masters of the Anything Goes school, who, after Genma pointed out the children's absence as well as The Plan, the human fountain dried up and matching grins were sported as the adult's eyes glazed over seeing a cushy retirement. Seeing that the two adults were occupied, Kasumi gathered a picnic basket hidden in the kitchen and signaled for Koji to come go to the front door.

The young boy moved quietly, a regard that was not needed as the two fathers seemed absorbed in their daydreams, to the door, limping softly. Kasumi smiled at the boy as they made their way out.

Ryoga's day had gone from bad to worse, first he had walked upon a group of guys digging a hole in the ground, carrying a carpet. He tried asking for directions but all they did was pull out guns and open fire. Ryoga ran and managed to lose them but now he was lost. And there was no one around, so Ryoga resorted to old vices and yelled, "Ranma Saotome this is all your fault!" The only response he received from the snowcapped peaks was: "This is all your fault!" Ryoga grit his teeth and walked down the steep incline before him heading for a group of lights maybe a thousand feet off.

Walking along the fence a certain black-haired martial artist sneezed, he wondered if he was getting a cold or if Ryoga was angry again. A few seconds passed and nothing happened so Ranma just assumed that Ryoga was hopelessly lost. He spared another look at Akane who kept looking down at the ground, probably thinking. She didn't even notice the world going on around her. Ranma was getting a little worried, not that he would admit it. He hopped of the fence down next to his fiancée and opened his mouth a few times, trying to ask what the problem was but, "Hey Tomboy you eat your own cooking or something?" wouldn't come out of his mouth, so he went with a different option. "Hey Akane you alright?"

Akane was shocked at the words and tone Ranma used to break her out of her musings, she had expected something along the lines of, "Hey Tomboy, eat your own cooking?" She had not expected a simple, but heartfelt, question. Though it didn't explain why her blood pressure just skyrocketed like it did or why her heartbeat jumped up a few notches. She turned to the pig-tailed martial artist, and was again shocked at the concern in his eyes. She blushed, and managed to stammer out, "N-nothing, just thinking about stuff you know?" She started walking a little faster.

Ranma was now confused, Akane had never stuttered before, that he could remember anyway. He opened his mouth to say something crude about her nerves but like his earlier mean comment it wouldn't even reach his throat. Ranma looked away from Akane and frowned, confusion showing on his features rather plainly.

Nabiki stepped out of the public library, annoyed. There were no missing children in the whole of Japan that resembled Koji in any way. She sighed, it looked like she was going to have to make good on her word, well Ranma's word. Something in her pocket vibrated. Cursing softly, the middle Tendo grabbed the pager she bought a while ago out of her pocket and stared at the read out. Moving swiftly she found a payphone and began dialing, after paying the toll. It only rang twice before a deep bass said, "Hello"

"It's Nabiki," the Tendo responded, "you wanted to talk about something of great importance I take it." She listened for a moment, nodding. "You know what I'll be over there in a bit anyway you can tell me then," she interrupted. Hanging up the phone the middle Tendo daughter stalked toward the heart of the city.

Koji was enjoying himself outside with his nice Auntie. Kasumi had picked a secluded spot in the park and had served out generous amounts of both traditional eastern foods as well as some complimentary western foods. Koji managed to stuff himself on such a large lunch, and Kasumi still had enough to feed local neighborhood children and their mothers. The neighborhood kids tried to engage him in conversation but Koji didn't seem to keen on talking to anyone, then the kids gave up and tried to recruit him for various games on the playground he just shook his head and pointed at his broken leg, hoping to discourage the strangers. The other kids seemed to understand but made an effort to include him in the games, even if was just throw the ball/Frisbee back to them. Koji, still very much a social recluse, appreciated the effort to include him but didn't make any effort to include himself more then the other kids did.

Kasumi sighed, Koji was being helplessly stubborn and shy. She just hoped he would make a friend before the day was out.

Akane was thinking about what Ranma had confessed to Koji, most of it hurt, and now that she thought about it, he would make a joke about Ryoga's sense of direction in P-chan's presence and the pig would go ballistic, just like Ryoga would when P-chan was mentioned. As she thought about the occurrences a pain grew in her head, slowly at first, but as she noticed more and more similarities between her pet and her friend the pain built until the throbbing headache distracted her from that line of thought, just like every other time she thought about it… and just like the time Ranma used insults to break her from that memory erasing technique…

Akane felt fear for the first time in a long time.

Ranma had been silently watching Akane in class instead of sleeping, half listening to the math lecture on finding the height of something or it's distance, based on it's height or shadow's length, his brain slowly processing the information he received trying to place it in the known frame of martial arts.

His conscious mind however was focused on Akane, wondering just what was going on with her, or him for that matter. Ever since finding he couldn't act normally around her, he sighed and took it with a grain of salt… not that he understood that expression, he thought he heard Nabiki use it once, or was it that Sensei in Kansai? Either way he ignored his weirdness and went with it, somehow enjoying the way the words caused her to blush and stutter. Then she paled, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose. A look of fear crossed her features. And then Ranma felt a cold hand grip his mind.

Earlier…

Koji still using his broken leg as an excuse to not to interact to much with the other children, but one, a young girl approximately his age still hovered around him talking to him and being a general nuisance to the young boy. After a while Koji stop minding and talked sparsely, his fresh mind having only two days of experience having very little to talk about. The girl didn't seem to mind and she talked about her family, friends back home in Edo, school, and movies she wanted to see.

Koji found it hard to concentrate on what Sakura, the aforementioned girl, was saying as a small twinge started forming in his head. It started growing suddenly as found himself pulled to his feet. The pain became so overwhelming so quickly he doubled back over, falling to his knees as his head felt like something was trying to blow it's way out of his skull. Sakura and Kasumi were instantly at his side, there voices drowned out by the dull roar of the pain. Then came laughter… terrible, terrible laughter.

A thin, athletic woman of about thirty with long flowing black hair, entered the park. Her brown eyes focus on the figure of the pained boy. One elegant eyebrow arched, "My, my what an interesting form you've taken love." She said aloud.

The older woman of the group, still not but a child, rose and stared, "Who are you?"

"Me I go by many names, but you may call me Your Highness."

The stare did not abate, only intensified, "I think not. Who are you?"

"My, my insistent for a peasant aren't we, I am Sarah. You are?"

"Kasumi. Why are you here?" Her stance hardened, Sarah felt the change in the air, a crackling that signified an incredible will.

"I'm here for the boy," she inclined her head and the collapsed boy, shaking on the ground clutching his head, a soft glow encompassing his body, unseen by all. "You see he's my property, and I want it back."

"That is not and option. Leave. **Now**." Sarah had to applaud the girl, she had sufficient will and control, but no power.

"No." She flicked her wrist to send the girl flying into a nearby tree. She was surprised when her opponent only flew eight feet into the grass. She advanced on the boy when another girl, even younger than the last, stood in her way.

"Your not taking him, he's my friend!" the girl yelled her eyes closed.

"Well love, I see you have yourself a fan club already." She stated looking at the pained boy, who had manifested a half a dozen visible runes on his body. Again with a flick of her wrist the interposing girl went flying, not as far as Kasumi, she didn't want to hurt innocents needlessly.

"Now that your friends are taken care of, time to come home love." Her eyes sparked blue as she bent her will upon the near comatose boy.

"No." the boy stated. The shaking had stopped, but tremors still wracked his body, warping his flesh in unnatural ways, "I killed myself to escape you, and I will not give up my freedom again." The boy stood and his head swiveled toward Sarah, his eyes black and a wide, maniac smile on his face, the rune's light casting dark shadows on his face. His eyes closed and his flesh warped, darkened, softened. In a moment, Koji no longer resembled a human, his body seemingly warped into the shape of a large anthropomorphic cat. If one looked close enoguh one would recognise the stance as a rare sight in Nermia, the stance of the Cat Fist.

Back at the school, Ranma's eyes rolled into his head and he collapsed noisily onto his desk. His skin pale and body unresponsive. Gosunkugi screamed as he cluchted his head as if he were trying to keep it from exploding. Then he too collapsed onto his desk,

Author's Notes: Hey I'm back, I've had writters block, conflicting storyline ideas, romance issues and general craziness that is life, but I never stopped writing, as of now I have 15 Ranma fanfics on my Pc, I'm only posting two because, I could finish the first chapters, and they made sense!

Now as for my Reviewers:

Gort420: Thank you I'm glad you appriciate the story.

Upgrade: Yeah, if Akane understood what Ranma thinks and feels about the situations he's in, the manga would have ended at about 20ish with them getting married. It also would have killed the anime series (of which I claim no knowledge!!) early on.

As for the story: I'm not telling!


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